Photo: Gerry Thomasen from Nanaimo, Canada · CC BY 2.0Jobs and earnings in Nanaimo, and the trip to work
Out of work in May 2021: 8.4% of Nanaimo’s labour force, next to 9.9% for the middle of Canadian towns. The average trip to work from Nanaimo is 20.5 minutes; 4.7% of commuters spend an hour or more getting there. Median household income in Nanaimo was $75,600 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
What Nanaimo’s work numbers say
More jobs than the typical town
With 32,095 jobs based in Nanaimo and 29,725 working residents, the ratio compares with 0.8 in the middle of Canadian towns. The daily tide ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 20.5 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 4.7% last an hour or longer. The trip to work ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census, its commuting tables, Employment Insurance and the Labour Force Survey.
Jobs & income in Nanaimo: graded B
Better than 60% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #104 of 254 in British Columbia.
Its strongest measure is trip times; its weakest, household income.
Graded against Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more; less unemployment and a shorter commute count in its favour.
How the grade works
Census 2021 measures, weighed equally against every Canadian town and neighbourhood of 2,500 people or more: the share of residents aged 15 to 64 in work, median household income (2020), the unemployment rate and the average commute. Each becomes a percentile; their average sets the letter.
Each working day, Nanaimo’s workforce swells by 6%
29,725 residents of Nanaimo had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 32,095 people had theirs in Nanaimo, wherever they lived.
Nanaimo takes in some 2 workers for every resident it sends out. The job is inside the municipality for 85% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
The length of the trip to work in Nanaimo
Timed exactly, the average is 19.1 minutes (Statistics Canada). In the middle of British Columbia’s towns, the average commute is 26.4 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 46% of commuters, against 39% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: commuting duration in five bands; our average uses each band’s middle (75 minutes for an hour or more), so it runs about two minutes above Statistics Canada’s own.
Commuting time at the 2021 Census, to work only, for people who travel to a usual workplace or have none fixed.
6,918 people come into Nanaimo to work, most from Electoral Area A, Nanaimo and Lantzville
22% of the people who work in Nanaimo live outside it, 1,255 of them in Electoral Area A, Nanaimo, 14 km away. Parksville is where the largest group of commuters out goes, 655 of them.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
2021 Census, people with a usual place of work: where residents of Nanaimo work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
Work for 75% of 15-to-64s in Nanaimo
Of the 10 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Nanaimo census division, 6 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
By October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had 60% of the wider area’s adults in work. The participation rate, everyone 15 and over working or looking for work, was 60%. Many residents are past working age, so among everyone 15 and over the share in work drops to 55%. The figures are a snapshot of 11 May 2021, when pandemic rules still kept many people out of work or at home.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: people in work of any age over residents aged 15 to 64, and the census unemployment rate (15 and over); the 25-to-54 rate is Statistics Canada’s own (98-10-0485). The Labour Force Survey and business counts are context, not grade inputs.
How Nanaimo’s household incomes compare
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 53% of Canadian towns.
The middle of British Columbia’s towns is $86,900, and Nanaimo is 13% below it. 6 of the 10 other places of 2,500+ in the Nanaimo census division have a higher median. Incomes are for 2020, the first pandemic year, so CERB and other emergency payments are part of them.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
On foot, by bike, bus or train: 11% of Nanaimo’s commuters
Transit takes 4% of commuters, close to the middle of Canadian towns. 87% drive to work, about the same as in the middle of British Columbia’s towns. Home was the workplace for 18%, under the 21% in the middle of Canadian towns.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
How residents who commute got to work, 2021 Census; working at home is counted apart.
In the Nanaimo census division, 25% more people receive EI than in 2019
In the twelve months to August 2026 the number fell by 1%. January 2021 was the busiest month, with 7,290 people on EI, 2.7 times 2019’s average. For each 100 residents of working age in the division, about 3.7 are on EI.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100). For EI beneficiaries, the only official count covers all of the Nanaimo census division, Nanaimo included.
On getting around on foot, Nanaimo grades A
Better than 87% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #104 of 254 in British Columbia.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Among Canadian towns of 78,300 to 151,000, Nanaimo ranks 11th of 42 for jobs and income
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saanich British Columbia | 126,011 | 77% | 6.8% | $93K | A |
| 2 | North Vancouver British Columbia | 97,845 | 79% | 7.3% | $123K | A |
| 3 | Strathcona County Alberta | 107,345 | 77% | 9.1% | $124K | A− |
| 4 | Kamloops British Columbia | 108,793 | 75% | 7.4% | $88K | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 9 | Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Quebec | 100,806 | 80% | 5.8% | $75K | B |
| 10 | Victoria British Columbia | 103,888 | 79% | 8.1% | $68K | B |
| 11 | Nanaimo British Columbia | 111,845 | 75% | 8.4% | $76K | B |
| 12 | Red Deer Alberta | 115,409 | 70% | 12% | $85K | B |
| 13 | Terrebonne Quebec | 126,872 | 80% | 5.9% | $95K | B |
| … | ||||||
| 42 | Chomedey Quebec | 81,813 | 69% | 12% | $66K | D |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Nanaimo, and others among British Columbia’s towns.
Work in and around Nanaimo
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nanaimo | 75% | 8.4% | $76K | 20.5 min | B | A |
| Electoral Area C, Nanaimo 3.4 km | 71% | 8.1% | $102K | 25.4 min | B | C− |
| Lantzville 9.9 km | 77% | 6.5% | $98K | 22.4 min | A | B− |
| Electoral Area A, Nanaimo 13.7 km | 75% | 8.2% | $87K | 25 min | B | B− |
| Electoral Area B, Nanaimo 14.5 km | 74% | 8.5% | $60K | 24.3 min | C− | B |
| Fairwinds 17.4 km | 70% | 9.7% | $93K | 26.9 min | C+ | C |
The people of each place: the share in work, unemployment, household income and the average commute, with both grades once they come.
What this data can and can’t tell you
What each figure measures for Nanaimo, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- In work. How many residents held a job in May 2021, set against how many were 15 to 64. It reads a little high where many people work past 65, since below the municipality the census gives no breakdown of workers by age.
- Unemployment. Of everyone 15 or older who was working or job-hunting in the census week, the part still looking. Someone not seeking work isn’t in it at all.
- Household income. Taken from the 2021 Census, which asked about 2020: wages, pensions, investment income and government transfers together, before income tax, for the median household.
- Trip times. Our average assumes everyone in, say, the 15-to-29-minute band takes 22 minutes. Across all the bands that runs a shade above Statistics Canada’s measured average.
- Where people commute. Built from the census table that pairs each worker’s home municipality with their workplace municipality. A job here means someone who usually works in the municipality, local or not.
- Employment Insurance. Beneficiaries of Employment Insurance, month by month, for the census division rather than the town. Many jobless people don’t qualify, so it isn’t an unemployment rate.
- The Labour Force Survey. Statistics Canada’s monthly survey, published for metro areas and economic regions rather than towns: it gives a current rate beside the census’s 2021 one.
- Which towns we compare. Every town and city neighbourhood with 2,500 residents or more; whole cities and First Nations reserves are left out. Each middle figure is a median.
Questions about work in Nanaimo
How long is the commute from Nanaimo?
The average commute is 20.5 minutes; 46% of trips take under 15 minutes and 4.7% an hour or more.
Where do people in Nanaimo work?
Most stay: 85% work in Nanaimo. The rest go first to Parksville (655) and Electoral Area A, Nanaimo (585).
How many jobs are there in Nanaimo?
The 2021 census found about 32,095 people with their usual workplace in Nanaimo, or 1.1 for each resident who travels to a fixed job. In June 2026, 3,730 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Nanaimo?
The census put unemployment at 8.4% in May 2021, where the middle of Canadian towns was 9.9%. More recently, in October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had the Nanaimo metro area at 4.9%.
What is the average household income in Nanaimo?
Before tax, half the households in Nanaimo had more than $75,600 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
How do people in Nanaimo get to work?
87% of commuters drive, 4% take public transit, 5.2% walk and 1.4% cycle; 18% of everyone in work worked at home on census day.
Sources: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population (Census Profile) · Statistics Canada, tables 98-10-0458 and 98-10-0459 (commuting) · Statistics Canada, table 14-10-0323 (EI beneficiaries) · Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey (14-10-0459, 14-10-0462) · Statistics Canada, Canadian Business Counts (33-10-1176) · grades: TownRatings. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).